


Connecting with an iron wall

by Neutral_Cross



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Connect Zine, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2018-12-12
Packaged: 2019-09-17 05:38:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16968681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutral_Cross/pseuds/Neutral_Cross
Summary: “Volleyball is all about connecting. Connect with your teammates, make the ball connect, and everything will be ok.”





	Connecting with an iron wall

_ “Volleyball is all about connecting. Connect with your teammates, make the ball connect, and everything will be ok.” _

 

That was what Kenji Futakuchi’s former captain had said when he joined his middle school’s volleyball team as a scrawny first year. The upperclassman hadn’t been a good enough player to show off a lot of flashy moves inside the court, but he had successfully carved those words on the new team members’ hearts. That’s why Kenji was doing his very best to bond with his new teammates right after joining Dateko’s volleyball team.

Kenji liked to think that he was a pro at making friends; he was easygoing, hardworking and fun as hell. The first year drove his upperclassmen crazy, but there was no doubt he had become close to everyone in almost no time. Kamasaki yelled at him with a lot more love lately… Probably. 

Nobody could resist his charm.

 

Well, there was always the exception to the rule. It just happened that said exception had a name and no brows.

Takanobu Aone.

His fellow first year was the embodiment of Dateko’s Iron Wall. Aone was big, cold and apparently emotionless. If there was a heart beating inside that huge body, Kenji couldn’t tell. Summer was approaching and he had done everything he could think to reach him, but the only answers he got were rather discouraging grunts and the occasional nod. He was this close to giving up when he decided to approach his upperclassmen and ask for advice.

 

“Connecting to Aone? How would I know?”

“I don’t think I’m the right person to answer that.”

“Have you hit your head?”

 

He got no advice at all and received a lot of stares. Even Kamasaki stared at him trying to figure out if he was messing with him before settling on yelling his ear off. It was weird, but he wasn’t disheartened. He would connect with his team, including Aone. He would just have to try harder.

And he did.

 

He tried to hang out with Aone after training, but the big guy shook his head and showed him a ticket. It seemed that he had to take a train back to his home and he didn’t want to miss the last one. Kenji understood then that he had no free time on weekdays, so he decided to try on a Sunday. 

Success! He agreed!

Since Aone wasn’t a talkative person, Kenji figured that watching a movie would be the least awkward thing they could do together. They had fun. Well, Kenji did. His teammate didn’t say much, only his typical grunts, but he nodded when asked about doing it again, so he probably enjoyed the outing too.

 

However, things hadn’t improved back at school. Aone was still a silent rock, and Kenji was starting to doubt whether he would ever connect with him. The rest of the team didn’t look extremely worried about bonding with the aloof middle blocker, so Kenji began to think that he was the only one who didn’t get him. He went back to his upperclassmen.

 

“Haven’t you realized yet?”

“Still with that?”

“Futakuchi, focus!!”

 

They were useless, just like the first time. It was disrespectful of him to say that, but they didn’t help at all like proper upperclassmen are supposed to do. 

Maybe it was time to give up, after all. His former captain wasn’t that good of a player, his advice probably sounded better than it actually was. Kenji could play pretty well for a first year without having to connect with Aone. Hell, he almost didn’t have to make the ball connect. As a part of the Iron wall, his role was to make sure that the ball doesn’t reach his side of the court. Connecting meant nothing in a place like Dateko.

When Kenji shared that thought with his upperclassmen, Kamasaki smacked him.

He was sure he deserved better upperclassmen.

 

Kenji didn’t know what he had done to deserve it, but he had been stuck for days doing blocking training with the only guy in the gym he didn’t understand. He had been told that they were the future of the iron wall, so their blocking performance had to be up to par. He had to admit that Aone was brilliant at it. He could reach so far and react so fast it made Kenji glad to be on his side. The white haired mountain sometimes even saved some balls that his partner missed. He was just that good.

Kenji, on the other hand, was dead on his feet. Somewhere in the last hour, he had landed wrong on his foot and had been in pain since then. He was internally grateful to Aone when he asked for a break with one of his gestures. Sitting felt great. The first year was so out of it that he didn’t notice someone approaching the bench where he was resting.

 

“You okay?”

The voice was unfamiliar, but there was no doubt that it had been Aone’s. The giant was holding towards him an ice pack and some bandages. It might have been the light, but he looked worried.

“Is your ankle okay? Let me bandage it.”

Oh. Aone had probably noticed his bad landing, just like he seemed to notice everything on the court. Was that why he had asked for that break? So he could check his aching ankle? That was uncharacteristically sweet of him. Or wasn’t it? Aone didn’t talk much, but he did other small things to show his feelings. Small but meaningful things that he had taken for granted.

Kenji felt like a fool.

 

He had connected with Takanobu Aone since the first day of volleyball training. Whereas the other students had been scared away by his appearance, Kenji had tried really hard to bond with him. He had spent so much time trying to get him to open up that he had gradually learnt the meaning behind all his grunts and gestures. 

They had become friends. And it had only taken months and a swollen ankle for Kenji to realize it.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so slow to catch up.”

It was the first time he got to see him smile. Well, his lips curled up.

That counted as a huge smile for Aone.


End file.
